Cup holder

ABSTRACT

A holder for supporting a cup or drinking glass at a beach, so to eliminate the necessity of placing it upon the sand. The holder comprises a tapered lower end for insertion into the sand so that it may be maintained upright and an upper end having a receptacle into which a cup may be removably placed. The holder may be hollow and in screwed-together pieces, so as to provide a compartment for the storage of cups.

United States Patent 72] Inventors Constance M. Benn;

William J. Benn, both of 83-10 35th Ave.,

Jackson Heights, N.Y. 11372 [21 Appl. No. 778,650 [22] Filed Nov. 25, 1968 [45] Patented Dec. 14,1971

[54] CUP HOLDER 3 Claims, 3 Drawing Figs.

[52] [1.5. CI 312/43 [51 Int. Cl A471 l/00, A47f 3/02 [50] Field of Search 248/146,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 5/1953 Merahn 2,655,255 10/1953 Brown 206/4 2,704,444 3/1955 Carew 215/1005 2,996,208 8/1961 Schroeder 215/1005 X 924,890 6/1909 Converse... 312/43 X 1,510,805 10/1924 Smith 24/81 CC 2,103,948 12/1937 Jones" 248/156 X 2,414,358 1/1947 Calway 248/156X Primary Examiner-Jordan Franklin Assistant Examiner-Geo. V. Larkin Anorney.lay l... Chaskin ABSTRACT: A holder for supporting a cup or drinking glass at a beach, so to eliminate the necessity of placing it upon the sand. The holder comprises a tapered lower end for insertion into the sand so that it may be maintained upright and an upper end having a receptacle into which a cup may be removably placed. The holder may be hollow and in screwedtogether pieces, so as to provide a compartment for the storage of cups.

cur HOLDER This invention relates generally to picnic and beach equip ment. More specifically it relates to holders for supporting drinking cups or glasses.

A principal object of the present invention is to provide a cup holder for use by persons picnicing upon a sandy beach, and wherein the holder supports a drinking glass so that the same does not need to be placed down upon the sand where wet sand would cling to the side of the glass or blowing sand might get into the beverage contained in the glass.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a holder which is made of a single part, and which has a tapered lower end to allow easy insertion into the sand so as to maintain the holder firmly upright and support the drinking glass placed thereupon.

Another object is to provide a holder which will sufficiently elevate a support glass so that it is not near the sand of the beach.

Yet another object is to provide a holder for supporting a drinking glass or cup, thereby allowing a person's hands to be free for grasping a sandwich or other food in a neat and proper manner.

Other objects are to provide a cup holder which is simple in design, inexpensive to manufacture, rugged in construction, easy to use and efficient in operation.

These and other objects will be readily evident upon a study of the following specification and the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIG. I is a perspective view of the present invention show ing a drinking cup being placed into the holder;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a modified form thereof, and

FIG. 3 is a side view, partly in cross section, showing a still further modified form of the invention.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, the reference numeral I represents a cup holder according to the present invention wherein (as shown in FIG. I) there is a one-piece member 11 made preferably of rigid plastic so that it may be easily washed and maintained clean, and which may be made in various attractive colors.

The member I1 comprises an elongated part of cylindrical character and having a tapered lower end 12, the opposite end having a receptacle 13 for receiving a drinking cup I4. The receptacle edge 15 has a longitudinal extending slot 16 for clearing a handle 17 of the cup.

In operative use, the tapered end is inserted into the sand, for support while the receptacle removably holds the cup, thus preventing the discomfort of sand sticking to hands while eating a sandwich or other food at a beach.

In FIG. 2, a modified cup holder 18 is made hollow to include a central compartment 19 within which extra drinking cups 20 may be stored. Access to the compartment is made possible by making the holder 18 in two parts 21 and 22 which are joined together at 34 by screw threads 33 so to prevent entry of sand 23 even when inserted deeply thereinto. A partition 24 between the receptacle l3 and compartment 19 supports the cup 14. Otherwise the device is the same as the holder 10 shown in FIG. 1.

A still further modified holder 25, shown in FIG. 3, includes an upwardly movable collar 26 which raises when a cup is placed into the receptacle 27, thus further protecting the cup from blowing sand or sand thrown up by running feet of persons nearby. The collar is supported upon one end of a plurality of levers 28 each of which is pivotable about a fulcrum pin 29 of a short post 30 on the bottom of the receptacle, the opposite end 31 of the lever being engageable by the bottom 32 of the cup which thus tilts the lever and raises the collar. While various changes may be made in the detail construction, it is understood that such changes will be within the spirit and scope of the present invention.

We claim as follows:

1. A cup holder comprising an elongated body having an upper receptacle member and a tapered lower member for insertron rnto sand, said receptacle member having disposed therein a plurality of short upstanding posts, each post supporting a fulcrum pin of a pivotable lever, one end of said lever being disposed below a lower edge of a vertically movable collar, and one end of said lever being in alignment to abut with a bottom of a cup inserted into said receptacle member.

2. A cup holder according to claim I wherein the upper receptacle member has a slot for receiving a cup handle.

3. A cup holder according to claim I wherein the upper receptacle and tapered lower members are removably secured together so as to allow access to a hollow cup storage compartment in the lower member.

# i i U i 

1. A cup holder comprising an elongated body having an upper receptacle member and a tapered lower member for insertion into sand, said receptacle member having disposed therein a plurality of short upstanding posts, each post supporting a fulcrum pin of a pivotable lever, one end of said lever being disposed below a lower edge of a vertically movable collar, and one end of said lever being in alignment to abut with a bottom of a cup inserted into said receptacle member.
 2. A cup holder according to claim 1 wherein the upper receptacle member has a slot for receiving a cup handle.
 3. A cup holder according to claim 1 wherein the upper receptacle and tapered lower members are removably secured together so as to allow access to a hollow cup storage compartment in the lower member. 